Oh, let's call the whole thing off.

Today, the kids had a "mufti" day at school. If you're not from these parts, you can read what mufti is here.

This mufti day in particular was to raise money for the Queensland flood victims. All the kids were given the option to wear maroon instead of their school uniforms and bring a "gold coin donation"--this means 1 or 2 bucks. (Maroon is the state color for Queensland.)

(What Ava and Nate wore today. This picture has no relevance to the post, but THE CUTENESS. I AM DYING OF THE CUTENESS.)

Anyway. having lived here 6 years now, you think you're pretty much aware of all the little quirks in language and pronunciation differences. But a couple weeks ago, when this mufti day was announced, all the teachers were saying for the kids to wear "ma-rohn" instead of "mar-oon". And I was like, "Whaa?" Like a long "o" sound? Instead of an "oo" sound?

Jason heard it too, and we were like, "Seriously? 'Marohhn?'" It doesn't even look like that! How have I never noticed this before?

When Ava came home saying it that way, we corrected her pronunciation. Was that wrong? I mean, we don't say anything when the kids say "tomahto" or "zed". They say "iceblocks" instead of "popsicles". They say "pardon", which is totally cute. I've noticed lately that Ava is calling me "mum" sometimes. That's all good. But my friends, you gotta draw the line somewhere, and for me, I think it's at maroon. I mean--it's double O's, you guys! There are rules! What's a girl supposed to do?

My Aussie friends and readers, am I being extreme? Is this a universal Australian thing? How do y'all pronounce the word?

Oh! And then yesterday, Jason and I were at a local garden centre. We bought an outdoor table and chairs, and Jason was describing the guy who helped us to the cashier. "It's the guy with the goatee," he told her, gesturing outside. She smiled at him, "The go-TEE?", she mimicked. Apparently, Aussies say "go-dee", with no emphasis on the 2nd syllable. Again, something we missed after 6 years of living here. "Wow," Jason said to the cashier,"I've never noticed that before." "Yeah," she said, "We run it all together. We're just being lazy, I guess."

Oh! And can I tell you one more? This one made laugh. Several months ago, a friend of mine came over for morning tea. As we walked into the living room, I said something like, "Here, you sit on the love seat and I'll sit here." She looked at me funny. "What's a love seat?" I explained that it was what we called a two-seater sofa. She'd never heard that term before, and I never realized that I'd never heard it used here. My friend laughed and said, "I thought maybe it was a special name you and Jason had for it, and then I was wondering if I should sit there after all!" Woohoo--that's how rumors get started!

Of course, this is a big country, with a lot of variation depending on where you live. But we were shaking our heads over the fact that, even as settled as we feel here, there are little surprises all the time. Keeps it interesting!